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The Decades channel aired some episodes of the show over the weekend, running them at least all evening Saturday and Sunday and into the early AM hours.
Back then I was very much into the show, it was one of the first TV shows of my adult life that I became hooked on. I have not seen anything of the show since it ended in the 80s, it was never rerun on any channels that I was aware of. So I was wondering how it would hold up after all these years. My observation is that nearly all shows of the 70s and 80s now look very dated, and are not nearly as entertaining as when first run.
However Hill St Blues is an exception. Its one of the few shows of the era I can enjoy watching today.
As I watched a few episodes one thing that struck me, was that so many shows now are still using the basic framework - intertwined plots that carry over to the next show and the next season, a large cast of interesting and flawed characters that continue to develop, minor characters who are well created, dark and light humor intermixed with very serious plots and emotional stories as well - the list goes on.
It wasnt perfect, no show is, but overall it remains a fine show and one of the best dramas ever aired.
There was a Latino focused network showing it a few years ago. Only they would only air the first couple of seasons I guess some rights issues have been cleared up?
The series wasn't so much about police work as about the challenges of finding and filling a purpose in a multicultural environment and an increasingly bureaucratized and conflicting society, and it filled its own role particularly well.
My one objection is to the regrettable practice of too much oversimplification and stereotyping of those who hold to conservative beliefs, as displayed by James Sikking in the role of the bigoted Lt. Howard Hunter. But in fairness, the reincarnation of the format in NYPD Blue was an impressive improvement in this regard.
Hill Street Blues was must see TV for us back then. I haven't seen it since and when I saw it was going to be on the Decades channel, I spent way too much time this weekend turning the TV on and off instead of doing work.
I always wonder what became of the large supporting cast in shows like HSB and St. Elsewhere, besides the ones who have moved on to huge fame like Denzel Washington. Daniel J Travanti and Veronica Hamel seem to have faded away. Decades only showed episodes from the first 2 seasons before Michael Conrad died. A lot of it did seem dated to me, but it was a groundbreaking show. I used to enjoy the Bruce Weitz growling, but now it seems rather lame. However, it was still fun to watch this weekend and there were some plots that are still relevant. One major difference is that in those days, it seems that when the police threatened the bad guy with shooting and killing him, the bad guy would back down. Now it seems as if bad guys don't care if they get killed or not and after shooting people, they kill themselves, including domestic violence disputes.
The one beef that I have always had with Hill Street was Frank's ex-wife. They made her look foolish, needy, and silly badgering Frank over money and Frank Jr. The audience is set up to side with Frank Sr. and look at Fay as some incompetent little woman. But her complaints were that Frank didn't spend enough time with his son. And he seemed unwilling to pay for things for his son. To me, that makes him the bad guy, not the ex-wife. And Frank was an alcoholic so surely he made Fay's life quite difficult during their marriage. It's one thing when the writers set things up so that the audience would snicker when Fay asked for more alimony for herself, but I could never snicker when she wanted Frank to spend more time with his son and open the purse strings for Frank Jr.
too much oversimplification and stereotyping of those who hold to conservative beliefs,
How is that possible?
Hill St, was a ground breaking cop show that has been the tinplate for every ensemble cop show ever since. Watch Sgt. Esterhaus then watch Sgt. Trudy Platte on Chicago PD for the update.
If it seems dated... well there is no getting around the god awful fashions of the 70's.
Shows from that era are much slower paced and less dramatic than what we have today. At one time Emergency was one of my favorite shows. But watching it today I can barely make it through an episode.
Shows from that era are much slower paced and less dramatic than what we have today. At one time Emergency was one of my favorite shows. But watching it today I can barely make it through an episode.
Have you seen re-runs of the TV show "S.W.A.T"? Talk about dated.
Have you seen re-runs of the TV show "S.W.A.T"? Talk about dated.
SWAT was a different category then Hill St Blues, maybe Starsky and Hutch would be closer with its linked story arcs and reoccurring characters from the Hill, and division, I would compare it to something like The Unit. Think of a different way for our guys to chase someone and show tactical gun handling.
The one beef that I have always had with Hill Street was Frank's ex-wife. They made her look foolish, needy, and silly badgering Frank over money and Frank Jr. The audience is set up to side with Frank Sr. and look at Fay as some incompetent little woman. But her complaints were that Frank didn't spend enough time with his son. And he seemed unwilling to pay for things for his son. To me, that makes him the bad guy, not the ex-wife. And Frank was an alcoholic so surely he made Fay's life quite difficult during their marriage. It's one thing when the writers set things up so that the audience would snicker when Fay asked for more alimony for herself, but I could never snicker when she wanted Frank to spend more time with his son and open the purse strings for Frank Jr.
The year was 1981-82, only ten years after the emergence of "All in the Family", in which both Archie and Edith bunker were portrayed as sympathetic, but overly simplistic, misguided, or misinformed.
It's hard for anyone presently under the age of, I'll say 40, to recognize how strongly women were "encouraged" to stay at home and not learn the rules of the workplace, and it's taken many years to reorient our entire society -- and the issue is both divisive and a long way from completely resolved.
There was, IIRC, an "L A Law" episode a few years later in which Barbara Bosson played a breast cancer survivor who more-or-less "cleaned the clock" of an aggressive cross-examiner while on the witness stand, so I guess you could say that "What goes around, comes around". But its only entertainment, anyway.
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